Daily Devotional | Learn to Rest

In 2016, the Wellcome Foundation conducted the world’s largest “Rest Test.” They surveyed 18,000 participants from 135 countries, asking them what activities they found to be restful. The top five answers were reading, spending time in nature, spending time alone, listening to music, and doing nothing in particular.

We may demonstrate our love for God when we rest in Him. In Genesis 2:2, God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. In Exodus 16:23–30, God introduced the Sabbath to Israel through Moses, and He explained His expectations and provisions. The Sabbath was an opportunity for God’s people to rest and trust. In Exodus 20:8–11, God included the Sabbath in His Ten Commandments as a holy day when God’s people must refrain from work.

In Mark 6:31, Jesus expressed His own need to rest. In His human frailty, He grew physically, relationally, and spiritually tired. He invited His closest disciples to join Him for a brief retreat on a boat. Their rest was short-lived, however. The crowds were waiting when the boat docked.

Matthew 11 gives us an intimate prayer of Jesus and an invitation to rest. Jesus praises His Father, “Lord of heaven and earth,” for the way in which He revealed His salvation (v. 25). The gospel was beginning to divide those who believed from those who did not. Those who were wise in their own eyes did not understand what Jesus was teaching. They rejected Him because of their pride and self-sufficiency. In contrast, those who humbled themselves like children recognized their need and came to Him in humility and dependence. They were willing to listen and learn. Jesus invites the weary to rest: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” (v. 29). In Jesus, we find rest. The rest Jesus provides is soul-deep.